The Gambia Football Federation wishes to notify its members that it is refuting and dismissing, in the strongest possible terms, the allegations made against the Federation by Lamin King Colley and some so-called stakeholders in a tersely arranged press conference on September 17, 2017. The allegations made by these so-called stakeholders, most of whom are non-members of the GFF, are not only lies perpetuated by power hungry disgruntled individuals, but part of their continuous smear campaign against the leadership of Lamin Kabba Bajo since he assumed office three years ago.
Immediately after his election, GFF President Lamin Kaba Bajo called on all stakeholders including the defeated camp to join him to work for the development of football in the country. This declaration was followed by the appointment of some members of the defeated camp into various GFF committees; these include the defeated candidate Mr. Buba Mbye Bojang and Mr. Omar Danso who withdrew from the race for the presidency in the last minute.
The President and his executive went further to retain to date, senior staff members of the GFF Secretariat who were employed by the previous executive and were seen to be partisan. All past presidents of the GFF/GFA and several members of the past administrations are always invited to GFF organized international football matches.
Mr. Bajo took over the leadership of Gambian football at a time when the country was banned from all categories of football competitions as a result of the deliberate decision by previous administration to use ineligible players in a CAF U20 competition. His first action was to prevail upon on both the continental and global bodies to lift the ban, which was duly lifted. This happened at a time when the fortunes of Gambian football were going down as a result of administrative malpractices and the President set himself on a pedestal to build the structures from the grassroots for sustainable development.
We started by inviting all national team players on board who had threatened to refuse call ups to international engagements due to the previous administration’s failure to refund the monies they incurred while traveling to play for the National Team in air ticket and train fares. All these dues were paid to the concerned players as a part of the over D8million debt inherited by this Executive; today not a single individual or entity can claim to be owed by the GFF a dime.
Despite the efforts of the current Executive to open up and bring everybody onboard, the smear campaign against the executive by a small group of individuals who consider themselves as God sent to manage football in the country. This is evident by the incessant negative postings and comments on the social media, print and electronic media. This campaign of theirs has further escalated into unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and mismanagement, and incompetence from the same few individuals who are fighting for a common group interest, which is to bring the former executive into office.
It is not entirely a disappointment when one of them, Lamin King Colley, a former executive member of the then GFA unveiled his true colors in responding to a question from a reporter who accused him of a personal vendetta, driven by his greed, due the Federation’s decision not to endorse his candidature as a GNOC Presidential aspirant. For Colley to unequivocally state that his mantra is; You Do Me, I Do You, which has been trending on Facebook ever since with the #YouDoMeIDoYou, is a confirmation of our long-time held believe that these people are fighting individual and group interests rather than national interest.